The WTC Transit Hub Vehicle Security Center, which is essentially a highly secure tunnel down under 4WTC, 3WTC, 2WTC, and 1WTC intended for building deliveries and eventually tourist buses to the museum.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America hopes its huge new St. Nicholas Church at 130 Liberty St. designed by Santiago Calatrava will open in early 2016 after a mere $20 million outlay. But don’t count on either prediction to stand up.

The $20 million budget is drawing hoots from observers familiar with the architect’s chronic cost overruns — for example, he’s nearly $2 billion over budget at the World Trade Center Transportation Hub across the street. “For $20 million the archdiocese will get a door with a window,” snickered a participant in WTC reconstruction who didn’t want to be named.

Church officials say they’ll soon begin fundraising for Calatrava’s domed, monumental structure about four times larger than the original church destroyed on 9/11. But another issue has gone unnoticed in the excitement over his design, which was first shown in these pages a few weeks ago:

Namely, the archdiocese doesn’t yet have a lease to build at the site, which is owned by — and you thought it was out of business? — the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.

Archdiocese spokesman Father Mark Arey said, “The land still has some LMDC situation going on, and we have not yet finalized our land swap.” Eventually, Arey said, the Port Authority will own the land and will lease it to the archdiocese for 99 years.

The PA and the LMDC agreed in principle several years ago to swap two precious parcels of land — the possible site of a future performing arts center at the WTC’s north end next to 1 WTC, now owned by the PA, and the so-called “south site” owned by the LMDC — a zone just south of the actual WTC.

It includes 130 Liberty St., where the blackened ruin of the old Deutsche Bank building was finally demolished after years of delay; 140 Liberty St., previously a Milstein family-owned parking lot; and 155 Cedar St., where the original, tiny Greek church stood. But PA and LMDC sources said it wasn’t as easy as just trading parcels, and as a result, an “intense scrimmage” was going on behind the scenes.

Among the complicating factors, the LMDC’s land includes a development site just south of the planned church where a 1 million-plus square-foot tower could rise — making it potentially much more valuable than the PA site to the north, where the WTC master plan does not allow any more new skyscrapers.

In addition, the church site is on top of the PA’s underground Vehicle Screening Center, which may raise engineering issues. Between the various issues, a land-swap agreement might require public approvals to ensure that both agencies get a fair deal.

“The church is actually a minor piece of the puzzle even though everybody wants it,” one insider said.

In fact, the 130 Liberty site has been a hot potato since 2001. Larry Silverstein once hoped to build a tower there. Former Gov. George Pataki decided to use it for the new church — a move the PA fiercely resisted, moving the project back to 155 Cedar St.

That led the archdiocese to sue the PA.

Along the way, the PA, LMDC and JPMorgan Chase entertained plans for a new headquarters for the bank which would cantilever over the proposed church — the so-called “beer-belly” tower aborted after the crash.

Then, in 2011, Gov. Andrew Cuomo overruled the Port Authority and restored the church project to 130 Liberty St.

The next move?

That’s anybody’s guess.

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

It's the building standing over the church, though that design is just a placeholder. The Port Authority is still trying to decide which way to go with it. It will likely be built by a private developer.

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

This 7,000-square-foot lot at Greenwich and Albany streets, until recently a queuing area for the Sept. 11 Memorial, will be taken over by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. on July 1. It is part of the larger, 35,000-square-foot Site 5.

By AMANDA WOODS
Jun. 23, 2014

Quote:

Beginning July 1, 7,000 square feet of empty lot—a stone's throw from the World Trade Center site—will have a new owner with a looming question.

What to do with it?

Until May 15, when the September 11 Memorial Museum opened, the half-block-long lot at Albany Street, between Washington and Greenwich served as the queuing area for visitors to the 9/11 memorial plaza. On Tuesday, July 1, the area will be taken over by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which so far has no plans for its use.

The space is part of a larger 32,000-foot lot known as Site 5, just south of the World Trade Center, where the demolished Deutsche Bank building had stood. (The northern part of the site remains a staging area for construction of the Vehicle Security Center.)

“It’s insane to have a beautiful public space with trees, fenced off,” LMDC President David Emil told Community Board 1’s Executive Committee last week. “It could be for a year. It could be for two years. It could be for 10 years, depending on what the ultimate disposition of [the site] is. But even if it’s only for a year, why shouldn’t we have a plan to use it?”

Emil spoke about the possibility of landscaping the lot with "nice plantings" and called on the community to contribute their ideas.

But members of the Community Board committee already know what they want to see there: a Greenmarket.

In an April CB1 resolution, the board said that a Greenmarket would let the community “reclaim” the space and transform “it into a dynamic, vibrant area.”

The board also noted that it would be a long-awaited replacement for the popular Greenmarket that had been at the World Trade Center for 15 years prior to 9/11.

According to board chairwoman Catherine McVay Hughes, GrowNYC, which runs the city’s greenmarkets, is considering the idea. “At this moment, we are waiting to hear back from GrowNYC,” she said, “who is trying to figure out if the pedestrian foot traffic is enough there to sustain a farmer’s market.”

Laura McDonald, a communications specialist for the GrowNYC Greenmarkets, would not comment on the likelihood of the Greenmarket coming to the site. In a statement to the Trib she noted that GrowNYC is “working with the Community Board and several community organizations that service the area to determine the best way to activate the space.”

The future of the entire Site 5 is yet to be determined. While a “general project plan” for the space calls for a 1.3 million-square foot office tower, Emil said that the glut of office space in the area makes the site currently unsuitable for commercial development.

“If, for example, everyone in the government were to agree, we really don't need a fifth office tower in Lower Manhattan—what we’d really rather have there is something else, it could be something else,” Emil said. “Today, certainly we don't need a new office tower in Lower Manhattan. In the next year or two, that’s a bigger issue.”

Asked if it would be possible to build affordable housing on the site, Emil responded that it was in the discretion of the LMDC board to change the designated use of the site to allow residential development.

In the meantime, Emil said, it’s the LMDC’s job to come up with a “good use” for now-vacant site.

“It’s public land,” he said. “We should use it well.”

Well, at least someone has the good sense to understand that just because the site isn't needed for office space today doesn't mean it won't be in the future. For all of the new space being rebuilt at the WTC, it's just rebuilt space. For the tower that stood here before, that space is lost forever, as is the amount of space Downtown that is lost due to conversions, which have been picking up.

The bottom line - there are no future sites for decent sized office construction Downtown, except at the WTC site. It would be foolish to throw it all away today, and 10 - 20 years from now, the only way to expand is Jersey City.

The affordable housing idea though is ridiculous. You know, sometimes places are just to expensive to live, and you live somewhere else.

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

The area doesn't really need another new hotel, so many opening up. The Port Authority was considering mixed-use. That would be a better option, but the best option is for the site to remain available for commercial development. Using the site for various outdoor activities is feasible, the only problem being when the time comes to build, you just know the people are going to whine about losing the open space. But that's tough. The memorial is right there, and a site plan was chosen, they should stick to it. Tower 2 isn't being built up to height yet either. People have to understand, that doesn't mean it won't be.

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.